Take a Deep, Clear Breath Without Obstruction from Nasal Congestion or Sinusitis

Explore Your Options for Relief with North Texas Sinus Center

Nasal congestion can make each of your approximately 20,000 breaths (1) a day difficult -- taking a toll on your mental and physical health and resulting in embarrassing mouth-breathing and bad breath.

North Texas Sinus Center can bring you minimally-invasive, long-term solutions. Let’s explore your symptoms and issues and consider treatment possibilities to ease your pain and frustration.

What are Nasal Congestion and Sinusitis?

Nasal Congestion
When your nasal passages are irritated and inflamed, your nose becomes blocked. Nasal congestion is most likely a sign that another health problem is present. These issues include colds, sinus infections, and allergies.
Nasal Congestion Treatment 
Sinusitis
Your sinuses are air-filled spaces in your head behind the bones in your cheeks and forehead. They are lined with thin tissues. When these tissues are inflamed and swollen, you’re experiencing sinusitis, also known as a sinus infection. Sinus infections can be viral or bacterial, and can cause difficulty breathing, fatigue, congestion, fever, bad breath, and more.
Sinus Infection Symptoms 

What is Causing Your Nasal Congestion?

The cause of your nasal congestion can vary. One of the most common health issues that cause nasal congestion is sinusitis.

When you’re looking for nasal congestion relief to help eliminate sleep disturbance, it can transition from an annoyance to a health issue. It’s also, as mentioned above, a sign that something else may be going on with your body that needs to be addressed.

Common causes, according to the Mayo Clinic (2), include:

Infections
- Cold
- Flu
- Sinusitis (Sinus Infections)
Allergies
Non-Allergic Rhinitis
- Tobacco smoke
- Perfumes
- Other Irritants
- Car exhaust
- Hairspray

Relieve Your Chronic Nasal Congestion

Nasal congestion is often described as a "runny nose." You have difficulty breathing through your nose; it’s tiring, embarrassing, and you may be frustrated. It develops when there is an excess of fluid and swelling in the nasal cavity and nearby tissues. The fluid and swelling combine to stuff up your nose, and it may begin to discharge.

Medication package labels have health risk warnings about continuous use of decongestive medications and nasal sprays like Afrin. Most people are too embarrassed to wear Breathe Right nasal breathing strips all day. The adhesives on those nasal breathing strips cause skin irritations. Whether you’re dealing with a nasal valve collapse, chronic sinusitis, or another issue, don’t let this issue keep you from living the free-breathing life you deserve.

I need nasal congestion treatment but nothing I try is working. What’s wrong with me?

Many issues may cause your nasal tissues to become irritated and inflamed. The most common causes of nasal congestion are colds, the flu, chronic sinusitis (sinus infections), nonallergic rhinitis, and allergic reactions.

According to the Mayo Clinic (1), potential causes of nasal congestion also include:

Alcohol
Churg-Strauss syndrome
Overuse of decongestant nasal spray
Deviated septum
Air dryness
Sleep apnea
Stress
Tobacco smoke
Medications
Spicy food
Thyroid disorders

Woman is experiencing sinus pain at her desk congested with a sinus infection

Several of these are serious medical conditions that should be treated, including Churg-Strauss syndrome, a deviated septum, sleep apnea, and thyroid disorders. To get answers and results on how to drain your sinuses, consult with an Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) doctor.

To help determine the source of your nasal congestion and what’s a good way to unclog your nose yourself, you can perform the Cottle Maneuver at home. Learn more below.

Suffering from chronic nasal congestion? A Simple at Home Method to Determine Relief.

The Cottle Maneuver

The Cottle Maneuver is widely known as a do-it-yourself procedure for determining where your sinus pressure points are, and potentially where a nasal obstruction is coming from.

What Will it Do?

The Cottle Maneuver may allow you to discover and understand the source of your congestion and help determine the treatment method that can bring you long-lasting relief. You may find that your congestion is caused by sinusitis, deviated septum, collapsed nasal valves, or enlarged nasal turbinates.

How is it Performed?

Using your pointer and middle fingers, press just the tips gently on both of your cheeks near your nose. Pull outward carefully, opening the nasal valve. Now take a deep breath through your nose. Can you breathe in easier through your nose? If so, your congestion is probably located in the front of your nose, in the nasal valve.

Press the tips of one or two fingers gently on each of your cheeks near your nose. Carefully, pull outward, and this opens the nasal valve. Take a deep breath through your nose. If breathing through your nose improves while performing the Cottle Maneuver, your congestion is likely located in the nasal valve.

The Cottle Maneuver can help determine if you need help with chronic nasal congestion

What's Next?

After trying the Cottle Maneuver at home, an ENT can use the information you now have to aid in diagnosing and treating your issue. Dr. Gilmore may perform an alternate version of the Cottle Maneuver using a long cotton swab that you should not try at home. Major surgery is NOT your only option! Your issue may be resolved with one or two, simple, in-office procedures.

LATERA®

When breathing through your nose is difficult due to chronic nasal congestion, your airways may need to be remodeled. The Latera procedure is used to treat restricted nasal airways caused by anatomy through non-invasive airway remodeling. You can leave nasal sprays and strips behind you and breathe through your nose with ease.

Balloon Sinuplasty from North Texas Sinus Center and Dr. Gilmore

If you suffer from chronic sinus issues, you have a plumbing problem in your nose that medication is not going to cure. You probably do not want major sinus surgery either. We understand. At North Texas Sinus Center, we recommend safe, long-term chronic and recurrent sinusitis treatments, performed by our trained and experienced ENT, Dr. Gilmore.

Balloon Sinuplasty, often called Balloon Sinus Dilation, is a safe and simple office procedure that permanently enlarges sinus openings WITHOUT removing bone or tissue. Balloon sinuplasty is known to resolve chronic congestion associated with thick drainage from the sinuses by opening blocked airways with the help of a small balloon.

Learn More About Balloon Sinuplasty 

Minimally-Invasive Treatments for Relief from Nasal Congestion are Here!

Chronic nasal congestion is clogging your sinuses and your happiness.

Nasal congestion symptoms are fun for no one. When you’re congested, you’re:

Stuffy
Snotty
Snoring
Mouth-breathing
Likely to have bad breath
Exhausted
Frustrated

Sleeping for you and your partner also becomes difficult because of your snoring. Not only is nasal congestion at night complicating your life and sucking the joy out of every day, but it’s also a symptom that something more than just a stuffy nose is wrong with your body. You may have tried nasal congestion home remedies, but its likely they aren’t providing the type of relief you’re really hoping for.

Learn more about nasal congestion causes and how North Texas Sinus Center can help you with sinus pressure relief below.

Nasal Congestion and Obstruction Treatments

North Texas Sinus Center offers the following treatments for nasal congestion and obstructions:

Balloon Sinuplasty
RF Tissue Reduction
Turbinate Reduction
Latera Implant
Deviated Septum Procedures

You deserve to be comfortable and at ease when receiving treatment for your sinus issues. Minimally-invasive procedures are performed in the comfort of our office here at the North Texas Sinus Center.

Septoplasty (deviated septum surgery)
Endoscopic sinus surgery

Septoplasty and endoscopic sinus surgery are both surgical procedures that require full anesthesia and will be performed in an operating room.

ENT discusses sinus options with patients

Your North Texas Sinus Center Patient Experience

Because sources of nasal congestion and sinus infection can be different, North Texas Sinus Center takes a unique and comprehensive approach to ease your nasal congestion and sinus pain, restore sinus breathing and drainage, to dramatically improve your quality of life.

Before we can adequately treat your sinus pain, we need to understand the current state of your body. A detailed exam is the first step that allows us to understand the severity of your sinus symptoms and your expectations of treatment.

During your initial visit, we may also use our office CT scanner and sinus endoscopy to exam your sinuses to make a proper diagnosis.

As a patient of North Texas Sinus Center, you will be treated with care as we will consider all aspects of your health and condition before selecting the treatment that best eliminates the negative effects of your sinus problems. We will also develop a plan that aligns with your health goals.

Our process begins and ends around you and your needs, consists of four steps:

Detailed Exam
Sinusitis Diagnosis
Sinusitis Treatment Plan
Track Treatment Results

When medications and sinus infection remedies fail to meet your long-term expectations, we recommend sinus treatment plans that may include office procedures or surgeries performed in an operating room.

Sinus treatment plans are ineffective without tracking the results. Follow up office visits is not our way of making more money, it is essential to know if the treatment plan is meeting your expectations or if we need to revise the treatment plan.

Sinus sufferers come to North Texas Sinus Center from Dallas, Arlington, Fort Worth, Plano, Wichita Falls, and beyond.

Nasal congestion sufferers come to North Texas Sinus Center from Dallas, Arlington, Fort Worth, Plano, Wichita Falls, and beyond.

Schedule Your Appointment Today!

References & Resources